We all need someone we can trust…the kind of friend who has our back and who knows our secrets, yet treats them as if they are their own. We all need someone like that in our lives. And we all need to be someone like that for others. Mentoring is a mixed bag. It comes with the joy of walking through life with others, but it also comes with the responsibility of guarding those relationships and stories others share with you well. Recently, I’ve had several conversations with women who were walking through a painful place or facing difficult challenges. …
Child of Sacrifice
Tumultuous turmoils! We have all been through them with our children. And if you haven’t yet, Mom or Dad, I’m sorry to tell you that you will! As parents, we go through numerous internal turmoils as our children grow up. Fussing over their behavior as they grow into preschool years. Their eating and sleeping habits. Their health, safety, and manners. Their learning about God and saying prayers. And then, we wring our hands, and sometimes beat our heads against the wall, as they grow and encounter peer pressure and the related problems of teen life. Problems occasionally continue on into …
When Mom Needs New Vision
I remember several years ago when my daughter rushed down the stairs to the beat of her fear. She simply could not sleep with the “thunder booming and lightning bolts.” Though it was almost time for her to get up and get ready for Vacation Bible School, I hadn’t finished my prayer time yet. It was interrupted by a barrage of questions from her little mind instead. “Mom, what if lighting struck our whole house? Where would we live?” “Well, Sweetie, we would go to a hotel or a friend’s house until it was fixed.” “What if it caught the …
When Fear Captures Your Heart ~ (Four Ways to Fight Fear)
Has fear ever captured your heart? It has mine many times in the past and even recently. In 1989, I received a call that would forever change the course of my life. See, I had lived in fear through an abusive marriage and thought that after those days were over I would not live in fear any longer. Boy was I wrong. The call brought it all back. It returned in a more vicious way than before. No longer was it about me, but now it was concerning my children. The clutches reached out that day and captured my heart …
Welcome Mat: The Key to Teaching Your Children Thankfulness
The first time I remember making it a heart-goal to teach our children appreciation began this way… At our son’s 6th birthday party, during the gift opening portion: Son: (wildly tearing at the paper) What is it? Oh it’s a battleship. My Grammy already got me this. Then, he opened the next gift. Son: (pulling off the bow and paper, tossing the card aside, unread): A Nerf gun! My Grammy got me one of these just last week. In front of all the parents and children watching, I wanted to die then and there on the spot. My son needed …